Opposition parties plan to submit the names of four retired judges, which includes former chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, to the Speaker of the National Assembly for an independent panel that will investigate President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm scandal.
The panel forms part of the ATM's efforts to impeach Ramaphosa because of allegations that he covered up a US$4 million theft at his game farm in Limpopo in 2020.
EFF leader Julius Malema spoke at a media conference on Wednesday where nine opposition parties were in attendance and who jointly demand that Ramaphosa be held accountable.
Malema said the retired judges on the panel that would investigate the president were Mogoeng Mogoeng, Dikgang Moseneke, Bernard Ngoepe and Yvonne Mokgoro.
“There is no one bullying the President, we are doing our work. We’ve never went into any hall and disrupted the president,” Malema said, adding that “the issue of Phala Phala farm is a priority case to the hawks, and they have been wanting to move, but they have always been stopped by the political interference.”
Malema added: “The motion of no confidence requires very low reasons why you want to do it, by the admission of the president that there were dollars under the mattress and that state resources were used without a case opened is reason enough.”
The parties backing the action includes EFF, UDM, ATM and Cope.
The DA has made the decision not support the other opposition parties in their bid to move for a motion of no confidence in Ramaphosa at this stage.
“It remains our view – as previously argued in the meetings with the opposition parties – that the Section 89 Inquiry process, which has been initiated by the ATM, should be given the requisite time and runway to be properly exhausted in Parliament,” a statement by the DA said.
The ATM said: “ATM is part of the opposition parties that support a no confidence motion and s89 Enquiry to remove Ramaphosa.”
On 9 February 2020 about US$4-million in cash was stolen from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo, alleged former spy boss Arthur Frazer.
According to media reports it was not US$4 million but US$600 000.